The way forward on the climate crisis
Renewable energy microgrids are best initiated at local scales, ignoring fossil fuels, and allowing market forces to dictate reductions in fossil fuel demand.
The logical way forward is through renewable clean energy through microgrids to satisfy increased demands for electricity as fossil fuels are phased out, write Geoff Strong and Richard van der Jagt. Photograph courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
OPINION | | May 22, 2024
There is a clear way forward for solving the climate change dilemma if we have time before the crisis reaches a tipping point. That could occur any time within the next two decades unless greenhouse gas emissions are drastically reduced.
Geoff Strong was nominated this year for the prestigious Patterson Medal from Environment and Climate Change Canada. Photograph courtesy of Geoff Strong
Last week, we outlined why 10 common mitigation solutions for addressing the climate crisis would not work—like planting billions of trees, a carbon tax, or carbon capture and storage—and that any suggestion that allows carbon emissions to continue unabated permits failure. There are two essential objectives to mitigating the climate crisis: one, reducing carbon emissions and air pollutants to near-zero; and two, reducing existing atmospheric carbon dioxide from present 427 parts per million to pre-industrial levels near 300 ppm.
The logical way forward is through renewable clean energy to satisfy increased demands for electricity as fossil fuels are phased out. It should be carried out at local (municipal) scales in microgrids. These involve using more resources, but mostly for one-time set-ups of renewable clean energy, and would draw resources away from much heavier demands by fossil fuel industries in the same timeframe. It is important that renewable components be manufactured to be at least 95 per cent recyclable, which is now possible, ensuring resources for future generations.
Dr. Richard van der Jagt is an adjunct professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa. Photograph courtesy of Richard van der Jagt
Nature provides the energy required to accomplish the two objectives through several types of clean, renewable energy, steering us away from global catastrophe: solar, wind, small ‘run-of-river’ hydroelectric, geothermal energy, and ocean waves and currents. All have been harnessed for small projects for centuries; no new technologies are required, and the energy is sourced 100 per cent free from the sun.